NEWS

American Legion Post 853 hosted Borrego Springs’ Veterans Day ceremony on Wednesday, November 11, at the Christmas Circle Community Park bandstand.

World-Famous Micronation to Announce Five-Acre Expansion, Unveil Two New States During November 14 Jubilee The Republic of Slowjamastan is celebrating its fifth anniversary of independence with a historic announcement: the nation is expanding its territory by nearly 50 percent. On Saturday, November 14, from 1–3 PM, Slowjamastan will host its 5th Anniversary of Independence Jubilee, featuring the official announcement and ribbon-cutting ceremony for five newly acquired acres of land, one for each year of independence. The five additional acres, contiguous with the nation's existing 11-acre territory, bring Slowjamastan's total footprint to 16 acres. The public is invited to participate in the festivities, which include: • Historic ribbon-cutting celebrating Slowjamastan's territorial expansion. • Two new states officially commemorated within the nation. • Visa-free entry for the first 10,000 visitors. Crocs remain strictly prohibited. • Free Cactus Cooler while supplies last. • Meet and greet with The Sultan and the Chief of the Porder Batrol. "Five years. Five acres. Sixteen acres of freedom, questionable legislation, and absolutely no Crocs," said The Sultan. "Most countries celebrate anniversaries with cake. We bought more country." Founded in 2021, the Republic of Slowjamastan has attracted worldwide media attention for its unconventional approach to nation-building, complete with its own government, passports, border checkpoints, and national traditions. EVENT DETAILS What: Slowjamastan's 5th Anniversary of Independence Jubilee When: Saturday, November 14, 2026 | 1–3 PM Where: Republic of Slowjamastan, Imperial County, California. See slowjamastan.org/location Admission: Free Learn more about Slowjamastan: www.slowjamastan.org MEDIA CONTACT Robert Dobalina bob@slowjamastan.org

This is more than a bike ride. The OpiCure Ascent to Freedom Ride in Borrego Springs takes place Saturday, November 21, and brings together riders, friends, families, and the recovery community for a full day of connection and celebration, in association with Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation. Join the ride through the desert, jump into the pickleball tournament (all skill levels welcome), and enjoy meals provided for the riders as we come together to mark sobriety, share stories, and support one another. Whether you’re riding, playing, volunteering, or simply showing up, you’re part of this. Come be part of something bigger than any single activity — come be part of the Ascent to Freedom. “We wanted this to be a fun day that everyone can enjoy. Come meet the Opicure Community and grow with us,” says OpiCure Foundation President Cullen Easter. In the heart of the Anza-Borrego Desert, this inaugural OpiCure event brings together people in recovery, their families, and the cycling community to celebrate sobriety, share stories of strength, and raise awareness about the opioid crisis. "By turning the simple act of riding into a collective ascent toward freedom, it shows that recovery is possible, community heals, and every pedal stroke can move us closer to a life beyond addiction," says Cullen. "The OpiCure Ascent to Freedom is about community, movement, and celebrating recovery in every form." OpiCure Foundation is a 501(c)(3) Non Profit Foundation focused on addressing opioid-related addiction and deaths. More information on the event is available at opicureride.com .

The old Chevron station across from La Casa del Zorro has stories

Borrego Springs is making major progress in groundwater conservation. See the latest numbers and what they mean for the valley’s future.

Video Credit: FOX 5 San Diego / YouTube

Actor Jon Hall, Borrego’s new honorary marshal (center), with the October 1949 Borrego Sun at the opening of Hoberg’s Desert Resort. From left: Sun publisher Paul Strand, Paramount starlet Mari Blanchard, actress Beverly Tyler and Jack Benson of Benson Tours. Photo by Gaylord Johnson, Borrego Sun, November 1949. Courtesy of the Fred Jee Collection.

Six artists come together for a collective exhibition Check out the most recent review by Art Critic, Sally Walsh Gary Henderson Interiors Studio 628 will celebrate its season opening with Mixed Tempos, a collective exhibition featuring Kevin Goddess, Victoria Johnson, Kippi Leonard, Robert Landry, Wil Gardner and Marcy Gregory. Mixed Tempos at Studio 628 & Galeria el Patio 622 Palm Canyon Drive, Borrego Springs CA. Show goes through November, Gallery Hours Friday-Sunday 1:00-4:00 PM. Bringing six artists together in one exhibition, Mixed Tempos offers visitors an opportunity to explore their work and welcome the return of the local gallery season. The evening will also include a sneak preview of Galeria el Patio, adding another reason to stop by and see what’s ahead. Community members and visitors are invited to join the celebration, enjoy the exhibition and spend an evening connecting with Borrego Springs’ arts community.

From desert hikes and stargazing to educational lectures and guided tours, the Anza-Borrego Desert Natural History Association (ABDNHA) has posted its upcoming activities for the 2026–2027 season. The schedule offers opportunities for residents and visitors to explore the desert, learn about local history, observe wildlife and discover the natural wonders of Anza-Borrego. Programs include guided hikes, bird walks, four-wheel-drive excursions, astronomy presentations, nature journaling, cycling and educational lectures. Many outdoor activities are free, although advance registration is often required. November Highlights Nov. 2: Fern Canyon and Vandeventer Loop hike Nov. 6: Stargazing Borrego's Dark Sky Nov. 7: Deep Space Photography with Michael Poirier Nov. 8: Rainbow Wash & Beyond 4WD Tour Nov. 14–15: Annual Attic & Book Sale Nov. 21: Historic Borrego Walkabout Nov. 24: Full Moon Walk at South Palm Wash Nov. 27: The Fascinating Story of Borrego's Sky Art, with Diana Lindsay Nov. 28: Guided driving tour of Borrego's famous sculptures Looking Ahead December brings additional hikes, birding excursions, botany programs and lectures. The annual Desert Home & Garden Tour is scheduled for March 13, 2027, while a Mongolia tour is listed for June. Activities vary in difficulty, and some have participant limits or special vehicle requirements. Several programs offer discounted admission for ABDNHA members and volunteers. Explore the full schedule and register: ABDNHA Activities For reservations or additional information, contact the Borrego Desert Nature Center at 760-767-3098, or visit 652 Palm Canyon Drive in Borrego Springs.

OLAX de Borrego invites the community to experience colorful altars, traditional Mexican art, and a special Family Day celebration on Sunday, November 1. All activities are free and open to all ages. The Community Resource Center (CRC) in Borrego Springs is filling with color, flowers and tradition as OLAX de Borrego prepares for its Día de los Muertos celebration. Volunteers have been busy painting large decorative pieces, creating colorful paper flowers and assembling traditional altars to honor loved ones who have passed away. The preparations are part of OLAX de Borrego's Día de los Muertos series, bringing community members together to share Mexican cultural traditions through art, remembrance and celebration. A Weekend of Remembrance and Celebration The public is invited to visit the Día de los Muertos Altar Expo on Saturday, October 31, and Sunday, November 1, beginning at 9 a.m. The altars, known as ofrendas, are an important part of Día de los Muertos. They traditionally feature photographs, flowers and meaningful objects that honor and remember family members and friends who have died. The decorations include colorful handmade flowers, papel picado and other artwork created during community workshops and preparations. Sunday: Family Day, Catrina Contest and Folklórico The celebration continues Sunday, November 1, at 3 p.m. with Family Day, a Catrina Contest and a presentation by Las Flores del Desierto Ballet Folklórico. The afternoon offers an opportunity for families, neighbors and visitors to experience the traditions of Día de los Muertos together. The Catrina Contest celebrates one of the holiday's most recognizable figures, while the folklórico presentation brings traditional Mexican dance into the celebration. Everyone Is Welcome OLAX de Borrego's celebration is free and open to all ages. Whether attending to honor a loved one, learn about Mexican traditions or enjoy the community festivities, everyone is invited. Event Details Saturday, October 31: Altar Setup beginning at 9 a.m. Sunday, November 1: Altar Expo, beginning at 9 a.m. Sunday, November 1, at 3 p.m.: Family Day, Catrina Contest and Las Flores del Desierto presentation Location: Community Resource Center (CRC), The Mall, Borrego Springs Admission: Free, all ages welcome For more information, contact info@olaxdeborrego.org . Photos: Community members prepare colorful decorations and handmade artwork for OLAX de Borrego's Día de los Muertos celebration at the Community Resource Center.

Please join the Civic Foundation for its annual Old Borego Days celebration No, Borrego is not misspelled in the title above. This is the way Borrego was spelled back in 1928, when the first post office opened in what is now called “Old Borego.” The site is located at 1580 Rango Way. Please join the Civic Foundation for its annual Old Borego Days celebration of the historic heart of the Borrego Valley on Sunday, November 8, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. The turnoff from Rango Way will be marked with a sign. Please note that no restrooms are available. Visitors will be able to enter the old post office and general store, originally run by Eslie Wynn, and view a fascinating video from the 1950s extolling the virtues of life in Borrego Springs. One of the first homes in Borrego Springs will also be open for public viewing, offering a nostalgic look back at life in the community’s earlier years. In addition, Borrego Springs Elementary School fourth graders, who study California history, will have their essays on display. Three students will receive awards for their writing on “Borego Now and Then.” Ram Media Foundation, the nonprofit behind the Borrego Sun, will also share display items from its archive, offering another glimpse into the valley’s past. Old Borego Days Sunday, November 8, 2026 1 p.m. – 3 p.m. 1580 Rango Way, Borrego Springs

New Sunday morning classes offer adults opportunities to improve balance, flexibility, strength, and coordination in Borrego Springs.

What Happens When Artificial Intelligence Imagines Spending One Human Day in Borrego Springs?

From alfalfa fields to airport lights and the 1961 Aero-Rama, one man's ambitious vision for Borrego Springs lives on in the Borrego Sun Files.

All screenings are held on Wednesday evenings at 7pm at the Borrego Springs Performing Arts Center, 590 Palm Canyon Drive, Borrego Springs, CA 92004 . Our full schedule for 2026 is posted on the BSFI website: www.borregospringsfilminstitute.org . Please check the website for the most up to date information.

Every year at the start of November we celebrate, on two days, all those women and men who have gone on before us.

(Vehicle in left hand portion of the photo) Photo credit: Jim Torian, Facebook

Supervisor Jim Desmond waves to the crowd at the 60th annual Borrego Days parade on Saturday, October 17.

All screenings are held on Wednesday evenings at 7pm at the Borrego Springs Performing Arts Center, 590 Palm Canyon Drive, Borrego Springs, CA 92004 . Our full schedule for 2026 is posted on the BSFI website: www.borregospringsfilminstitute.org . Please check the website for the most up to date information. Here are the movies coming in October: Wednesday, October 21, 2026 at 7pm – Poor Things – 2023 – Rated R – 2h 21m Poor Things is a wildly inventive, exhilaratingly strange, and visually ravishing work of absurdist cinema that stands as one of the defining films of recent years. Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos and written by Tony McNamara, based on the 1992 novel by Alasdair Gray, the film is an Ireland-UK-US co-production starring Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef, Christopher Abbott, and Jerrod Carmichael. The story follows Bella Baxter (Stone), a young woman brought back to life by the brilliant and unorthodox scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Dafoe), who, hungry for the worldliness she lacks, runs off with Duncan Wedderburn (Ruffalo), a slick and debauched lawyer, on a whirlwind adventure across the continents, growing ever more steadfast in her determination to stand for equality and liberation. The film is a Frankenstein story refracted through feminist philosophy, dark comedy, and steampunk visual extravagance, moving from black-and-white to lush, outlandish color as Bella's consciousness expands. Poor Things premiered at the 80th Venice International Film Festival in September 2023, where it won the Golden Lion, and was released theatrically in the United States by Searchlight Pictures in December 2023. It became Lanthimos's highest-grossing film, earning over $117 million worldwide on a budget of $35 million. Critically it was celebrated with tremendous enthusiasm, where the consensus describes it as "wildly imaginative and exhilaratingly over the top — a bizarre, brilliant tour de force for director Yorgos Lanthimos and star Emma Stone." The film was named one of the top ten films of 2023 by both the National Board of Review and the American Film Institute. At the awards ceremonies, it swept the season: it won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy and Best Actress for Stone, five BAFTAs including Best Actress in a Leading Role, and at the 96th Academy Awards received eleven nominations — second only to Oppenheimer — winning four: Best Actress for Stone, Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, and Best Makeup and Hairstyling. And looking forward, here are the scheduled movies coming in November and December: Wednesday, November 4, 2026 at 7pm – Babette’s Feast – 1987 – Rated G – 1h 42m Directed by Gabriel Axel and adapted from a short story by Isak Dinesen, the film tells the lovingly layered tale of a French housekeeper with a mysterious past who brings quiet revolution in the form of one exquisite meal to a circle of starkly pious villagers in late nineteenth-century Denmark. The title role of Babette is played by Stéphane Audran — with Birgitte Federspiel and Bodil Kjer as the two devout sisters into whose isolated lives Babette quietly, transformatively arrives. Babette’s Feast became the first Danish film ever to win the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Among its many admirers is Pope Francis, who named it his favorite film of all time. In French, Danish, and Swedish with English subtitles. Wednesday, November 18, 2026 at 7pm – The Daytrippers – 1997 – Rated R – 1h 27m Written and directed by Greg Mottola in his feature debut, the film follows the distraught Eliza (Hope Davis), who discovers a love letter written to her husband (Stanley Tucci) by an unknown woman and turns to her tight-knit Long Island family for help — sending the whole clan, including a strong-willed mom (Anne Meara), a taciturn dad (Pat McNamara), and a jaded sister (Parker Posey) with her pretentious boyfriend (Liev Schreiber) in tow, piling into a station wagon and heading into Manhattan to find out the truth. With its droll humor and bittersweet emotional heft, The Daytrippers announced the arrival of an unassumingly sharp-witted new talent on the 1990s indie film scene. Critics were largely enthusiastic: the Washington Post called it proof that "a great movie isn't a matter of dollars, so much as creativity," while Newsweek noted that "thanks to the superb cast and Mottola's deft touch, this modest-looking comedy proves quite memorable." Wednesday, December 2, 2026 at 7pm – Brief Encounter – 1945 – Not Rated – 1h 26m Directed by David Lean and adapted from Noël Coward's one-act play Still Life, the film stars Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard as two married strangers who fall into a fleeting, unconsummated love affair after a chance meeting at a railway station, told largely in flashback through Johnson's internal narration. Restrained, quietly devastating, and shot in stark black-and-white with Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto as its emotional backbone, Brief Encounter became a landmark of British cinema for its portrayal of repressed longing and moral duty. It was widely praised on release — earning the Grand Prix at the first Cannes Film Festival in 1946 and Academy Award nominations for Lean's direction, Johnson's performance, and the screenplay — and it continues to be regarded by critics as one of the finest British films ever made, frequently topping "greatest films" lists for its emotional precision and understatement. Wednesday, December 16, 2026 at 7pm – The Holdovers – 2023 – Rated R – 2h 13m Directed by Alexander Payne, the film is set at a New England boarding school over the 1970 Christmas break, where curmudgeonly ancient history teacher Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti) is stuck supervising the handful of students with nowhere else to go. As the group dwindles to just one, sharp-tongued troublemaker Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa), Paul and the school's head cook, Mary Lamb (Da'Vine Joy Randolph), who is grieving the loss of her son, form an unlikely bond over their shared isolation. Written by David Hemingson, The Holdovers was a major critical success, earning five Academy Award nominations including Best Picture, with Randolph winning Best Supporting Actress. Critics praised its warmth, wit, and old-fashioned craftsmanship, with many calling it one of the finest films of the year and a worthy heir to the character-driven dramas of the era it evokes. Wednesday, December 30, 2026 at 7pm – The Thin Man – 1934 – Not Rated – 1h 33m Directed by W.S. Van Dyke, the film stars William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora Charles, a witty, hard-drinking former detective and his wealthy wife who are pulled back into sleuthing when an old acquaintance's inventor father goes missing amid a string of murders. Their affectionate, wisecracking rapport, as much as the mystery itself, became the heart of the film, setting the template for the screwball detective comedy. Based on Dashiell Hammett's novel of the same name, The Thin Man was a critical and commercial sensation on release, earning four Academy Award nominations including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor for Powell. It remains a landmark of 1930s Hollywood, celebrated for launching a beloved franchise and for Powell and Loy's chemistry, still considered one of the great screen partnerships in film history. This season’s BSFI movie screenings are being generously underwritten by the Borrego Valley Endowment Fund (BVEF). See you at the movies!

SDG&E reported about 189 attendees and 29 staff at the 4 to 7 p.m. event, which followed a similar open house at the El Centro Community Center the day before.

 Learn More About Borrego Springs

Applications for the four-year seat are due October 23. The Borrego Springs Unified School District is accepting applications from district residents to fill one seat on its Governing Board. An insufficient number of candidates filed for the 2026 election, requiring the Board to appoint a qualified person before November 3. The appointee will be sworn in at the Board’s annual organizational meeting in December 2026 and serve a four-year term ending in December 2030. Applications are available at the District Office and at www.bsusd.net . Completed applications must reach the Superintendent’s Office by 3 p.m. Friday, October 23, 2026. Submit applications to Superintendent Mark Stevens by mail at 1315 Palm Canyon Drive, Borrego Springs, CA 92004; by hand delivery at 2281 Diegueno Road; or by fax at (760) 767-0494. For more information, contact Stevens at (760) 767-5357 .

SDG&E will come to Borrego Springs on Wednesday, October 14, from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m